Fix “Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network”

I recently bought a new Linksys wireless router and after setting it up with basic WEP security, I tried to logon from my laptop and was successful! Not very exciting, eh?

So then I tried to connect from my desktop computer that has a wireless USB adapter attached to it and I ended up getting this error message:

Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network

Fabulous! What certificate! I checked my settings on the wireless router to make sure I didn’t accidentally setup certificate security, but found no such thing. Also, since I was able to connect from my laptop with no problem, it led me to believe it was something wrong with my desktop.

After about 30 minutes of fiddling around with various settings, I was able to figure out what the problem was. Here’s how to connect to your wireless router if you are getting this message.

Now click on the Wireless Networks tab and select the network in the list at the bottom. Click on Properties once you select the wireless network that is having problems.

Click on the Authentication tab and now uncheck the Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network box. If the box was checked, then that was why you were getting the “unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network” message because Windows is looking for one, but your wireless router is not setup for certificate security.

And that’s it! Once I unchecked that box and tried to reconnect to the wireless network, everything worked fine! Enjoy!

Well, it showed me this sentence "Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network" but i was connected. Programms like Skype and Icq worked for me, but Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage… Any ideas to help me? Thanks.

Only problem is that while I was fiddling with all the other settings trying to get this to work I've screwed something else up and now it says 'Limited or no connectivity' yet a different laptop logs in fine!

Thanks heaps for this! I was messing around trying to get my wife's computer to go back online after it mysteriously stopped working and this page helped me fix the issue within a minute. I was so close to finding the same solution myself, but it never occurred to me to uncheck that particular checkbox until I saw your tutorial. Thanks again!

Wow! Thank you… this was an annoying problem. lol Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us non-technical people of the world! I just got a belkin wireless g router and needed to get it working immediately. Thanks again!

OMG……Thank you so much – my old computer had this problem – had taken it to 'experts' and everything. They all told me I needed a new motherboard/network cards etc etc….and that it would cost me heaps & it wasn't worth it. So I bought a new 'puter. I am just mucking around with the old one for the kids to put games on – found your solution – AND IT WORKS!!!!!!

Great post! To those above – I ALSO got the situation of "limited web connectivity" after successfully connecting to the wireless device itself on ONE "older" laptop with XP. All other computers worked fine in my environment. The fix? I had to go to the wireless router admin and "step down" the authentication protocol from the more advanced "WPA" to the more universal "WEP". Also had to broadcast at 2.5Ghz instead of 5Ghz, and ensure the setting supported all modes – b/g/n. Made these additional changes and all was good! Ed.

Thanks a million for the fix – it didn't go as smoothly for me with my Trendnet Nband router and my Nband PCI card, as the certificate page you indicated was all grey and there was a yellow triangle "!" warning me about the certification process being disabled since the SSID was unencrypted. However, on the first page of the advanced options I noticed there were two profiles for the same SSID and I deleted the unused one – and connected almost immediately after clicking out of the advanced dialogs. I still attribute you with the fix, as you got me into the the right dialog. :)

You guys are awesome! Thank you! This solved my problem. I am running Windows XP and there is one additional step I had to take that I'd like to share to help others: after completing all of the steps listed above, if you still can not connect to the Internet try this:

1. Open your 'Network Connections' (found in active icons tray).
2. Right-click on the 'Witeless Network Connection' that won't connect to the Internet.
3. Click 'Repair' from the drop down menu that appears after right-click.

Windows took over from there, resetting my wireless adapter and updating my IP address. This provided immediate resolution for me. Thanks again for being so helpful!

I'm using WPA-PSK : AES (Data Encryption), and i noticed that the "Authentication" tab is greyed out. If you switch to WEP network authentication and encryption, the "authentication" tab is NOT greyed out. I know this isn't a solution for those people who want to use WPA, but it's better than having no connection or drop outs all the time.

I'll also put some other data, maybe we can find a similarity in our situations.

Thanks you very much. I also faced the same problem like that with my wireless connection…I even do followed your method before however it did not work as i did not specified what connection I wanted to use. After I read the article again, it struck me… and thus when validating my identity, I unchecked that certificate box and voila! it's working… great info.. thanks once again….

I would also like to thank you for posting this fix! I wish I could figure out why I had to do this all of a sudden, because the connection was working fine for months and we haven't changed a thing. So, THANK YOU!!!

This is not working for me. I am able to connect directly to my cable modem, but not if I try wireless. My laptop that I first used to connect everything gets the certificate message, but I'm still able to log on. The problem is when other people come with their laptops, they are not able to connect wirelessly. They get the certificate error message.

Initially I had set my connection settings to WPA2 and was receiving the same error message as mentioned by Aseem. I changed them to wep 128 bit, 64 bit and even disabled the security. When I tried connecting then, the error message was gone and my laptop established a connection easily but still the internet won't work. Any clues?

Thanks. I had been to that tab but I didn't think to disable the certificate altogether. If only they had added to that error message "If you have switched from a router that requires a certificate to one that doesn't you should…"

Steps were easy to follow, and sure enough, I got connected to the wireless router, however, the computer still isn't able to connect to the internet. The internet works if the computer is hard wired with an ethernet cable. Any suggestions why it's still not working?

Thanks a million. My husband and I were at our wits end trying to overcome the problem. Your instructions were incredibly clear & worked like a charm. Nothing to do with computers as ever been so easily fixed.

Thank you very much…It has been so frustrating for me to find a solution. I even asked my boyfriend who is a fiber optic tech to help. He gave me the usual "Go do a search on GOOGLE for a certificate". Ugh, soooo nerve wrecking..This is our wireless network.. my netbook.. I shouldn't have to do this.. or even have a certificate ..lol Wait till I tell him that I found the solution hahaha

still got no or limited connectivity problem. When I go to get it repaired, the enable authentication box gets re-checked. And, this laptop worked FINE before I got a u-verse digital modem (had DSL before.)

Thx, good info, but it might not be the only problem! In my case my router was set to use WPA2 only, when my computer was only able to use WPA mode and this was causing the "Windows was unable to find a certificate…" error. I had to switch to Auto WPA + WPA2 mode to fix it…

Thank you so much. Even my company IT Support department was stumped. After spending more than an hour of my own time, I searched via google, found your posting and within 4 minutes had my connection working.

Thanks so much! After spending about 3 hours trying different things, I Googled the exact message I was getting, was directed to your site, read the easy-to-follow how-to, and it worked! The screen shots helped tremendously. I will definitely bookmark this site.

Yeah, like they all said above, thanks for the time saving tip! Now, if only the router manufacturers would include this in their FAQ, or Microsoft would improve their useless message with this information.

Excellent tip!!! Being able to connect, this issue (message – “Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network”) was killing me for the last few months until I found this fix here. Thank you – thank you.

I tried this solution and it did not work, what did work for me was doing a search on my wireless network adapter – intel pro wireless lan 2100 3a mini pci adapter driver. and updating to the latest driver that did the trick!!!

You are a freaking genius. Thank you so much, this took me a week to fix.

For those of you who stated that the area is grayed out, go back and change your settings to "open" instead of WPA-TSK. Make the change and then reconfigure. Restart the computer. Reconnect and it should work. Good Luck!

Thank you! Was getting this message when trying to link my wireless to a loaner laptop from an office I contract for. After not having any luck with my IT support, I solved the problem after viewing this post!!

Thank you! I really didn't want to have to call Linksys so they could remote connect to my computer and just poke around on my PC, get into my files, and change settings not related to the WiFi problem.

Short version : Make sure your router security protocol matches the one on your wireless device, i.e., WPA_PSK/AES on both router AND laptop.
———
I had switched to WPA-PSK from WEP and had set the security on the router to WPA-PSK/AUTO. On my laptop windows config, I had to choose a settting of either WPA-PSK/AES or WPA-PSK-TKIP (I had it set to the AES). This is when I started getting the "Windows is unable to find a certificate to log you on" error.

When I went into router config and switched from WPA-PSK/AUTO to WPA_PSK/AES, the problem went away!

Thanks, it's working fine. After I unchecked the "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" box, my internet speed also increased. But I have one question: Is this task safe for my Laptop? Any chance to hack or coming virus?

You are terrific! I was trying to figure it out over and over and came so close with no luck. This took me less than a minute, and like that – you saved me such frustration! Thank you for taking the time to share this!!

Thank you for fixing this for me. I normally use a Mac so it wasn't until I needed to connect an old Toshiba that the 'certificate' problem reared its ugly head. Fortunately your instructions made sorting it out a doddle.

Here's one for you. I'm getting this error message, but that little box is already unchecked. I can't really do anything with the authentication tab because everything faded out, too. This might help: I'm leaching off a business network that I hacked into. It's running WPA encryption. It was way too simple to get in, because the network name was the password.

Thank You so much!! I honestly paid a pair of idiots 200 dollars when I had high speed hooked up to set up the wireless router. And guess what? On my laptop, they couldn't get it. They had it somehow authenticating the user forever. It would kick you off five million times. And ta-da! With your advice, it works. I am thrilled. I still think those idiots should give me my money back, other then the cost of the router, but hey, lol :)

I bought a PCI wifi card, installed it perfectly fine. Then, I found I was having this same problem and after stumbling across this post on my laptop and following the steps I thought I'd found the solution! However, when I load Internet Explorer it still comes up with the "The page cannot be displayed" page. Help?!? The wireless network connection status claims it's connected and the signal strength is full.

Thank you! It's getting harder to find solutions to Windows XP problems now that Win7 has been taking over, so this really helped. I recently set up an older computer on our existing work network, but couldn't figure out why the connection kept cycling on and off. Three days screwing around with different settings, and then 15 seconds here had it solved. (On a side note, it's amazing what a proper error message will do for troubleshooting.)

Thank you so much for this information. I switched my router from a G to an Xtreme N and got this message for my laptop. I followed your instructions and it did work immediately. Now, my house guest will be able to do the same.

Thanks for your help. I tried checking my wireless adapter authentication just like you advised. ''Enable IEEE 802.1x…" was unchecked and ''Authenticate as computer when computer information is available'' was checked.

But everything in the Authentication window is inactive, so I am not able to make any changes to the Authentication properties.

I did all the actions which you advised but when I go to authentication the Enable IEEE box is unchecked and grey. The only box that is checked is authenticate as computer when computer info is available. I still cannot get on. Please help

Adding to my last post to you. I went into my local area connection/ properties/ authentication and I noticed there is a box Enable IEEE which is checked/enabled. Should I uncheck this box also? I do not have this problem at work or if I go to a store where there is wireless. This is a linksys and I have windows XP. Thank you, Joe.

Excellent, straight-forward advice. As a couple extra's that might help someone else I found the first time I unchecked the box the message came back and wouldn't connect. I then realized you must click "OK" to exit the Authentication tab and then click OK again to exit the Wireless Network Connection box. A second reminder was to also use your new wireless network key password if you had changed it prior to trying to log on with your laptop, netbook, etc. In my case it was still automatically putting up the old key.

Thank you for this! Just moved in with a friend and for the first time ever when trying to connect to a wireless network, got this error message and I was at a total loss. Your fix worked and I'm now on the right network!

Wow, thanks a bunch….have been trying forever to get around this error message. My IPad would log on fine, but the Windows XP laptop would not. Even traded in linksys for a belkin router, thinking a “N router” might work better, but same results. Will go try this fix right away!!

This was a lifesaver for me. After hours of tinkering with the router in our office, I finally got ahold of this solution and found that it’s not with the router but with the laptops in the office. Whew!

I was having problems accessing the Internet with my netbook and was advised by a tech-friend to uninstall the adapter, turn off and restart the computer, and it would reinstall the adapter automatically, which might fix the problem. When I did that, the certificate error popped up, which he didn’t know how to fix. Your article and those wonderful screenshots helped me–and apparently so did my tech-friend–because now everything is working perfectly. Thank you very much.

Thanks heaps for this! I was messing around trying to get my wife’s computer to go back online after it mysteriously stopped working and this page helped me fix the issue within a minute. I was so close to finding the same solution myself, but it never occurred to me to uncheck that particular checkbox until I saw your tutorial. Thanks again! Why does Bill’s team want to foul us up all the time?

We just got a WiFi Extender and I was having the Devil of a time setting up my Dad’s laptop to connect, it kept giving me this Certificate bs. I was searching high and low for whatever was the problem and no luck, then I found your How-To and it saved me so much stress!!!!

This does not fix my issues – I have a similar problem – the same error message re a certificate, I have followed to the letter the instuctions – 3 other PCs and 2 smart phones work perfectly. I had Vista (Which was a disgrace) and I reinstalled XP – windows kept telling me my Vista was pirated!

I’m getting the same error with my desktop because my dad recently bought a new router and modem as well. I followed these steps and it stop saying it couldn’t a certificate but now it says I have ‘limited or no connectivity’.

Why? Just why? What always seems to be an improvement or upgrade always leads to a failure or dysfunction with technology.

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Aseem Kishore

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time.

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About Help Desk Geek

Welcome to Help Desk Geek- a blog full of help desk tips for IT Professionals. My name is Aseem Kishore and I work as a Systems Analyst in Dallas, TX. I graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2002 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.